First-person interactive story Book of the Dead shows the capabilities of the Unity Engine

Unity’s Demo Team, creators of “Adam” (2016) and “The Blacksmith” (2015) recently announced Book of the Dead, a first-person interactive story showcasing the capabilities of Unity 2018 for powering high-end visuals for game productions.

Book of the Dead demonstrates what is possible when using Unity 2018’s new Scriptable Render Pipeline, which provides enhanced customizability of Unity’s rendering architecture, putting more control in the hands of the developers.

The project is built on the new High-Definition Render Pipeline template shipping with Unity 2018 and various powerful customizations enabled by the SRP. A preview of the High-Definition Render Pipeline is coming soon to 2018.1 public beta.

Book of the Dead is an interactive demo that combines elements from both film and games. The trailer is representative of the actual gameplay experience.

The environments are built in a way that allows the player to move around and explore. The camera is a continuous first-person camera, and when the player is teleported to a different location, the transition feels like a cinematic cut.

Unlike a traditional first-person game camera, however, here the game camera is designed to have a cinematic handheld feel, with inertia and weight. The height, speed, and shakiness reflect the emotional state of the protagonist and change as the player progresses through the story controlling the character.

Book of the Dead targets a 2018 release and we will be back with more detailed news. Stay tuned!